State surpasses 35,000 COVID-19 cases, 2,000 deaths

The Indiana State Department of Health on Tuesday said the number of positive cases of COVID-19 in the state has risen to 35,237, following an increase of 407 cases.

The state reported an increase of 256 cases on Monday, 363 cases on Sunday, 653 on Saturday, 490 on Friday, 595 on Thursday, and 359 on Wednesday.

The department said Tuesday that the cumulative death toll in the state rose to 2,022, up from 1,976 the previous day—an increase of 46. That’s the largest number of new deaths in the daily update since May 21, when 48 were reported.

Nearly 92% of the total deaths involve those who are age 60 or older. More than 75% of those who have died are older than 70. Only 2.9% of the deaths have involved someone younger than 50.

According to the report, 945 deaths—or 47.8% of the state’s total—involved long-term care patients, as of Monday. The state said 150 facilities have experienced at least one COVID-19 death.

The state said 271,919 people have been tested so far, up from 265,896 in Monday’s report—an increase of 6,023.

The state said 13% of those tested so far have been positive for COVID-19.

The ISDH said the test numbers reflect only those tests reported to the department and the numbers should not be characterized as a comprehensive total.

Health officials say Indiana has far more coronavirus cases—probably tens of thousands more—than those indicated by the number of official tests. A study announced May 13 estimated at least 186,000 Hoosiers have or had COVID-19 through the end of April.

New positive cases, deaths and tests have occurred over a range of dates but were reported to the department in the previous day.

The department reported the state’s first case on March 6 and first death from COVID-19 on March 16.

Marion County on Tuesday reported 9,978 cumulative cases—up from 9,900 the previous day, an increase of 78 cases.

The county’s cumulative death toll was 592, up from 581 in Monday’s report.

The state said 55,296 people have been tested in the county.

As for surrounding counties, Hamilton had 1,170 positive cases; Johnson 1,117; Hendricks 1,177; Boone 316; Hancock 345; Madison 594; Morgan 281; and Shelby 375.

Pike County has six cases, but every other Indiana county has at least nine.

The department said 43.9% of the state’s intensive care unit beds were still available. About 14% are being used by COVID-19 patients.

The department also said 83.4% of the state’s ventilators were available, with 4.6% being used for COVID-19 patients.

The health department is providing case updates daily at noon based on results received through 11:59 p.m. the previous day.

As of Tuesday morning, more than 1.81 million cases had been reported in the United States, with 105,192 deaths, according to a running tally maintained by health researchers at Johns Hopkins University & Medicine. More than 458,231 people have recovered.

More than 6.3 million cases have been reported globally, with 376,322 deaths. More than 2.71 million people have recovered.